Roller-press for finishing photographs



.of Pittsburg, in the county of @Miren STATES ,i c ,mme-, ,s Parr-traer en free..

navin MARSHALL, or rirrsBURe, rEnNsrLvAxni, aan maxaamx MARSHALL, or MARIETTA, onto.

ROLLER-PRESS FOR FiNISHiNG PHOTOGRAPHS,

Specification forming To @ZZ whom it may concern:

Be it known that we, Dai/1D MARsHALL, Allegheny and State of Pennsylvania, and BENJAMIN MR- sHALL, of Marietta, in the county of \Vashing ton and State ot Ohio, have invented a new and useful Improvement iii-Apparatus for Finishing Photographs, and we do hereby i declare the following to be a full, clear, and exact description thereof, reference being had l to the accompanying drawings, forming part l of this specification, in which- Figure l is a front view ot' our improved machine for uishing photographs. Fig. 2 is a an end view thereot'. Fig. 3 is a vertical section of our machine through rr, Fig. 1, at right angles to the axis of the rolls.

Our improvement consists in a new mode of nishing photographic pictures by passing` them after they are mounted through or be tween polished rollers, one of which is heated, or otherwise exposing them to considerablel pressure between polished heated surfaces, and in certain improvements in the construetion ot the apparatus for that purpose.

After photographic pictures have been printed on sensitized paper from the nega-tive and toned in any ordinary manner, they are usually mounted by pasting them on cardboard or heavy paper'. The copious washing to which the printed paper is necessarily eX- posed to remove all trace of nitrate of silver and to give tone to the picture takes away all gloss from the paper and leaves. it rough and dull looking. To remove this dull appearance from the picture it is usual to subject them to pressure between cold metallic rolls. This restores a slight gloss to the picture and improves its appearance. ()nr invention is designed to give a much iincr gloss and more highly-polished surface io the iinished picture than has hitherto been attained.

In order to explain more fully our invention and the manner in which it is put into practical operation,we willproceed to describe the machine which we have invented for this purpose.

The frame ot' our machine is made ot' iron, and consists chieily ot'two upright end pieces, c a, connected together on both sides by side pieces, Z) b. Each end piece has a slot extend- 1 ing from the top as far down as the journals part of Letters Patent No. 1L- El, dated July ing in the bottom ot the slots.

nal ofthe upper roll.

r2, iss-i.

cc of the lower roll, d, which have their bear- The lower or segment roll, d, extends horizontallyacross the machine and the upper roll, e, which is ot' smaller diameter than the lower one, is placed immediately about it with its axis parallel to the axis ofthe segment roll, as seen in Fig. l. Above each journal ot' the upper roll, c, is a rider,f, or journal-box, placed in the slot in the end piece ofthe machine, a pressure screw, 7s, passed through a cap piece, g, which bridges the stop on top of each end piece of the machine,-presses upon the rider over each jour- ()ne of the journals, c of the segment roll d extends outward bevond the side piece of the machine, and is furnished with a lever, lz, by which the machine is operated. The upper roll, c, is cylindrical, and may be east hollow, it' preferred. rlhe lower roll is hollow and is in shape a half'- cylinder, with a circular disk or head at each end, from which the `journals ccf project. The upper roll is of unit'orm diameter throughout, excepting that at each end, for about the width ofhalfan inch, the diameter is siightly greater, the ditterence being such only as is caused in dressing' and polishing` the rolls by not dressing them for the width ot' about halt" an inch at each end. The object ot' this is to prevent the polished surf-ace ot' the lower or segment roll from coming in Contact with thc face of the upper roll when the mounted photograph passes away from the rolls, which it would do with a sharp stroke were it not that the slightly projecting rims of the edges of the rolls prevent it. A hook or detcnt, I1', pivoted to one ot' the nprights a of the i'rame, enters a notch in the disk at one end ot' the segmentroll, as seen in Fig. l., and holds the segment roll in the positionshown in thcdrawings, with the body ot` the segment-roll turned up so as to heat it by means ot" a spirit-lamp or gasburner placed under the machine. rlhe segment-roll thus forms an arch over the tiame and soon becomes heated sutiiciently. The lamp may be kept burning unde the segment:- roli when itis in use, care being taken that the roll does not become too hot.

The segment-roll is dressed and polished to within a short distance from the edge on-cither side like the upper roll, but should be more l highly burnished, as the tace ot' the photograph is, ir''lsd toward the heated roll. In dressing ine segment-roll the edges of the body ot' the roll at au (see Fig. 3) are dressed down a little more than the remainder of the semi-cylinder d, which, when the lower roll is turned so that the edge of the semi-cylinder is near the lowest point of the upper roll, @,leaves a wider openingr between the rolls than at any other point between their surfaces, and thus allows the mounted photographs to be more easily inserted.

The operation of our machine is as follows: The lower or segment roll being sutticiently heated, the operator releases the detent i from the lower roll, and, taking hold of the lever h, turns it down so as to bring` the edge of the lower loll up to the lowest point of the upper roll. The photograph, having been recently mounted on a card, and not yet quite dry, is inserted with one edge parallel to the axis ot' the roll in the space between them, the face of the photograph being turned toward the heated roll. rlhe handle is then turned back, and the card is drawn through between the rolls, the heat and pressure giving a very smooth linish and high gloss to the photograph. Ifl necessary, the card may be passed between the rolls more than once. The proper degree of pressure is communicated to the rolls by l means ot1 the pressure-screws k 7c, by which also the machine is adjusted to suit the different thickness of the cards on which the photographs are mounted. y

We do not desire to conline ourselves to the use of a segment-roll suchl as described, as a i hollow cylinder might be used heated in other ways than that which we have described, as by the insertion of a gas-pipe through its journal with burners inside, but the machine constructed as described we think more simple and desirable.

Having thus described our improvement, what we claim as our invention, and desire to secure by Letters Patent, is

l. rIhe use of a machine for finishing photographic pictures, consisting of the combination of an upper roll and a lower roll or segment of a hollow cylinder so constructed as to be easily heated by the iiame of a lamp or otherwise, substantially as and for the purposes hereinbefore described.

2. Making either or bothof the rolls in ma chines for nishing photographs slightly' higher or of greater diameter at the edges than in the middle, so as to prevent the polished face of the lower roll being struck by the upper roll when the card is discharged, substantially as described.

3. Chamfering down the edges of the body ofthe segment-roll so as to allow of the easy insertion ofthe photographic picture between the rolls, substantially as described.

In testimony whereof the said DAViD M AnsHALL and BENJAMrN MAnsHALL have hereunto set their hands.

DAVID MARSHALL. BENJAMIN MARSHALL. In presence of A. S. NICHOLSON, Jol-1N M. NEAL. 

